Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
We discussed the idea of faith and works briefly, and the commonly argued contrast between being saved by faith and being saved by works, but there wasn\u2019t much debate, and everyone seems to now understand that it\u2019s God\u2019s grace that saves us, not our own works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
by works was faith made perfect<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not sure I\u2019ve ever noticed this phrasing before; if I had, I must have forgotten it. But it made me think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If faith can be made perfect, then it must start out as imperfect. And it is through our works that we can transform our imperfect faith into perfect faith; although, I imagine the process is a long-term one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For quite a long time now, this chapter hasn\u2019t represented for me an argument for salvation by works or an argument against salvation by faith. Rather, to me, it explains to us that if our faith doesn\u2019t motivate us to works, then it\u2019s a \u201cdead\u201d faith and we might as well not even have faith at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A living faith, however, inspires us to do\u2014to follow Jesus\u2019 example, to do what he did, to live his teachings, to actively love others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A living faith is one that grows from imperfection to perfection, or more specifically, growth through imperfection (and its various stages and incarnations\u201a towards perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all, if Jesus, the \u201cOnly Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, . . . received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness\u201d, then surely our faith can also grow from grace to grace until it becomes full.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In our elders quorum class, we were discussing Larry S. 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